Children Assaulted by Sex, Violence, Drugs and
Explicit Language on BET and MTVPTC and Enough is Enough Campaign Release New Report Revealing
Offensive and Indecent Content on BET/MTV

LOS
ANGELES (April 10, 2008) - The Parents Television Council™, in partnership with the Enough is Enough Campaign, released
shocking new data about BET and MTV daytime music video
programming. As recently as March 2008, children who watched BET’s
Rap City and 106 & Park and MTV’s Sucker Free on MTV were bombarded
with adult content - sexual, violent, profane or obscene - once
every 38 seconds.

“What BET and MTV are offering to children on these three programs
is full of offensive and vulgar content, the likes of which cannot
yet be found on broadcast television. Being in the trenches
fighting for better indecency enforcement and cable choice on behalf
of millions of American families, we thought we’d seen it all – but
even we were taken aback by what we found in the music video
programs on MTV and BET that are targeted directly at impressionable
children,” PTC President Tim Winter said.

“BET and MTV are assaulting children with content that is full of
sexually charged images, explicit language, portrayals of violence,
drug use, drug sales and other illegal activity. Not only that, but
we discovered that some offensive words aired only in muted form in
December 2007, but as recent as March 2008, these same words were
not muted.

“Excluding one program on BET, neither BET or MTV carried content
descriptors that would work in conjunction with the V-Chip to block
the programs from coming into the home or to warn parents about the
presence of sexual content, suggestive dialogue, violence, or foul
language. This is a major problem for parents who are told
repeatedly to rely on their V-chips to protect their children,” said
Winter.

In a report prepared for the Enough is Enough Campaign, the PTC
analyzed adult content airing on BET’s Rap City and 106 & Park and
on MTV’s Sucker Free on MTV for a two-week period in December 2007.
These shows were chosen due to their daily new and recent video
releases. The content analyzed aired during afternoon or early
evening hours, when many children are at home after school. Because
the research data from the December content contained a strikingly
high volume and degree of adult-themed material, the PTC conducted
an additional week of analysis on the same three programs in March
2008 for purposes of validation. The data revealed even higher
levels of adult content in March 2008 than in December 2007.

Major Findings:

The PTC documented 1,647 instances of offensive/adult
content in the 27.5 hours of programming analyzed during the
December 2007 study period, for an average of 59.9 instances per
hour, or nearly one instance every minute.

In March 2008, there were 1,342 instances of offensive/adult
content in a mere 14 hours of programming, or 95.8 instances per
hour, 1.6 instances per minute, or one instance of adult content
every 38 seconds.

To put this data in perspective, in the PTC’s most recent
analysis of prime time broadcast TV Family Hour programming, the
data revealed an average 12.5 instances of violent, profane and
sexual content per hour. This is equivalent to one instance every
4.8 minutes.

Most of what children are seeing in these music videos are
sexually charged images – 45% of the adult content in the analyzed
videos was of a sexual nature, followed by explicit language (29%),
violence (13%), drugs use/sales (9%), and other illegal activity
(3%. Although March data revealed higher quantities of content,
the percentages represented similar findings (42%, 37%, 10%, 9% and
2% respectively).

The PTC documented 746 sexually explicit scenes or lyrical
references in the 27.5 hours of analyzed programming from the
December study period for an average of 27 instances per hour, or
one instance every 2.2 minutes. Sexual content was even more common
in the March test period, with an average 40 instances per hour, or
one instance every 90 seconds.

With respect to language, the PTC documented 475 uses of
explicit language and obscene gestures in December for an average of
17 instances per hour, or one instance every 3.5 minutes, and 495
uses of explicit language and obscene gestures in March, for an
average of 35 instances per hour, or one instance every 1.7 minutes.

The most commonly used expletive during both the December
and March study period was (muted) “n-word,” which artists
verbalized 148 times within a two-week period in December and
verbalized 136 times within the one-week study period in March.

Vulgar slang references to sexual anatomy increased from a
mere 3 instances in December to 103 references in the one-week March
test period. Other categories of sexual content, such as
direct/non-slang references to sex and depictions of strippers also
increased dramatically.

From the December broadcasts, the PTC documented 221
depictions of violence, including deaths depicted or implied,
explosions, implied violence, punching/hitting, rioting, threats and
weapons; this data equates to an average of 8 instances per hour, or
one instance roughly every 7.5 minutes. Violence also became more
frequent in the March analysis, averaging one instance every 6.3
minutes.

Of the violent content in the videos analyzed, 55% included
the use or depiction of weapons, the second largest category of
violence was deaths depicted or implied (16%), followed by threats
of violence (11%).

The PTC also documented 205 depictions or discussions of
drug sale or use and other illegal activity during the study period,
for an average of 7.5 instances per hour, or roughly one instance
every eight minutes. The depiction of illegal narcotic use or sale
dominated this category – 75% of references to or depictions of
illegal activity in the analyzed videos were drug-related.

All episodes of Sucker Free on MTV included in this analysis
were rated TV-14. By contrast, almost every episode of 106 & Park
and Rap City on BET carried only a TV-PG rating. An exception was
found with one show that aired in December, which was rated TV-14
and included descriptors for suggestive dialogue, foul language, and
sex.

During the two-week December 2007 study period, children
under 18 made up approximately 40% of the viewing audience for 106 &
Park, 41% of the audience for Rap City and 39% of the audience for
Sucker Free on MTV. Because all of these programs re-air throughout
the day, study results underestimate the percentage of unique
children who are exposed or have been exposed to these programs in
total.

“There are several solutions. First of all, parents need to be more
involved in monitoring their children’s media consumption,
establishing and sticking to household rules about media use, and
discussing media content with their children. Advertisers need to
be held accountable for the content their advertising dollars pay
for. Those companies that advertise on programs like 106 & Park,
Rap City, and Sucker Free on MTV can and should use their unique
influence with BET and MTV to push for greater responsibility where
program content is concerned,” Winter said.

“Consumers must demand and receive the right to pick and choose –
and pay for – only the cable channels they want coming into their
homes. It is unconscionable that parents who wish to protect their
children from this content are nonetheless forced to subsidize it
with their cable subscription dollars. Finally, we must demand from
the networks an accurate, transparent, and consistent ratings system
that will give parents adequate tools to protect their children from
inappropriate content.

“Today is just the first step towards making progress and we commend
Pastor Delman Coates, founder of the Enough is Enough Campaign, and
those who work with him for demanding change and accountability from
BET and MTV. It takes the courage of concerned citizens to speak
out against destructive images on television and to see change
happen,” Winter concluded.

To speak with a representative
from the Parents Television Council, please contact Kelly Oliver
(ext. 140) or Megan Franko (ext. 148) at (703) 683-5004.

The Parents Television Council™ (www.parentstv.org®)
is a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment.
It was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence
and profanity on television and in other media. This national
grassroots organization has more than 1.3 million members across the
United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters,
networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and
negative messages targeted to children. The PTC also works with
elected and appointed government officials to enforce broadcast
decency standards. Most importantly, the PTC produces critical
research and publications documenting the dramatic increase in sex,
violence and profanity in entertainment. This information is
provided free of charge so parents can make informed viewing choices
for their own families.

Parents Television Council,
www.parentstv.org, PTC,
Clean Up TV Now, Because our children are watching, The
nation's most influential advocacy organization, Protecting
children against sex, violence and profanity in
entertainment, Parents Television Council Seal of Approval,
and Family Guide to Prime Time Television
are trademarks of the Parents Television Council.